


Crawl Back Under My Stone

by eveynull



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Muteness, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-08-30 02:18:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16755991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eveynull/pseuds/eveynull
Summary: No one wants to be Kyle.But someone, at least, has his back, a silent saviour.A quick one-shot for these gay bois!





	Crawl Back Under My Stone

**Author's Note:**

> Proud to present everyone's fave buff lizard/useless twink pairing!!!
> 
> So I have to explain my headcanon for Rogelio's muteness - the She-Ra staff were the ones to confirm Rogelio's name on twitter, mentioning that because he has no voice lines in Season One, he doesn't appear in the voice credits. They also mentioned that they think someone says his name in Season Two, which will be the first time his name is confirmed in canon...
> 
> ...which in my head suggested, "Oh, I guess he still doesn't get credited for any voice lines then?" which lead to, "Wait, so Rogelio doesn't speak at ALL for two whole seasons?" and so, boom. Mute Rogelio headcanon.
> 
> I really liked the idea of playing with this, as lizards obviously communicate in a variety of ways that differ from us - lots of cues in touch and body language, with a smattering of audio cues such as huffing or hissing.
> 
> Kyle, on the other hand, just wants someone who'll listen to him... so who better than someone who won't interrupt, who will just sit there calmly and let him get things off his chest; having a big buff lizard bf is a pretty sweet bonus tho.

“Ugh, _seriously,_ Kyle?!”

He wasn’t cut out for this. He knew that. But having everyone yell at him for it _didn’t. Help._

“Come _on!_ That one _wasn’t my fault!_ ”

It was no good protesting. Adora and the others had already scattered, further laser fire blasting around them. He sighed, pulling himself up to sitting position and rubbing his now probably bruised chest. _Great._ If he took a hit then all of their grades suffered. Team marking meant that he dragged them all down.

_Ughhh._ He should be taking those extra drills, but the drill sergeants were terrifying enough to spend regular hours around and all he could imagine was Shadow Weaver’s glowing, judgemental eyes glaring at him the whole time.

Maybe he should just… keep lying here.

There was a shuffle to his side and Kyle immediately snapped upright, “I-I was just leaving, I- Oh,”

A clawed green hand had taken him by the wrist, pulling him up. Rogelio’s placid eyes looked him up and down, before dusting him off.

“Rogelio… ah, you shouldn’t hang around for me, you don’t wanna lose any more marks…”

Rogelio’s head shook slowly, a claw pointing to his chest and tapping on the display there. Kyle’s eyes were drawn down to the flashing red X that marked him. “Ah… you too? Too bad, huh?” Broad scaly shoulders shrugged up and down slowly, then the lizard man simply gestured over his shoulder. Time to go.

“Yeah, yeah… I guess,” Kyle grumbled, sighing. “It’s gonna be a long week to make up for that.”

A heavy arm thudded over his back, about as comforting as a thump from a guy probably three times your body mass could manage. “Ahah, hey, ow- geez, I’m banged up enough as it is!”

A yellow eye was tilted in his direction and Kyle managed to picture a rough brow being raised teasingly at him. “Hey, I’m trying, you know? I don’t got the biological advantage here. And Adora, Lonnie, all those guys, I dunno… I’m just not built for this stuff.” The eye blinked slowly. “Ahh, I know, I know… It’s just like, I don’t have the mental strength to work up the courage to train more – and then it’s like, it cycles around, ‘cause then I get beaten around for being weak and it all goes on in a circle… ahh, I don’t know, whatever.”

The blink he got that time was longer, slower. Rogelio had no idea what he was trying to say. But Kyle got another pat on the shoulder, which he took as some sort of encouragement.

“Yeah… just gotta deal with how it is for now.”

As they each packed away their training gear in their lockers, Kyle paused for a second to look over at the lizard boy from across the room. He didn’t know why Rogelio chose to hang out with him… or, uh, well, he didn’t know whether to call it _hanging out_ , more that he just lingered in proximity from time to time. Truthfully he wasn’t ever sure what was on the other cadet’s mind, he only ever got a general feeling for it. It was obvious that Rogelio could understand _them_ , but if he was ever trying to communicate back it was in some way they couldn’t consciously recognise. Though, they never got the impression that he went _misunderstood_ , so there could be something there. He hardly seemed simple-minded, either.

Rogelio was kind of a loner, though, all the same. Maybe _because_ of the communication barrier. Or maybe that was just the way he was. Reptiles were all pretty solitary, weren’t they? Not that he’d dare to ask, it sounded pretty… risky. Presumptive. And he didn’t want to ruin what they had going; whatever that was. It mostly boiled down to that whole, being in proximity thing.

Kyle had actually been the one to initiate contact, hard as it would be for anyone to believe! Well, he’d seen Rogelio in action in the early days of training – as impressive then as he was now, sleeker than you’d expect for his build, quick on his feet and well-balanced, too! Their teams had just been assigned and hey, you were supposed to be working with these guys for the next what, eight years of your life, so he’d figured might as well make friends and all! And Rogelio had just sat there for half an hour as Kyle had gone on and on in a nervous mess, managing a whole conversation by himself without ever getting a word back in response.

It was only then that someone had alerted him that Rogelio was, in fact, mute.

In retrospect he had been extremely polite about it, or at least hadn’t punched him in the gut or taped his mouth shut as were uncommon responses to trying to interact with Kyle. He just had a tendency to get nervous and start carrying himself on his own momentum…

Oh! There was a tap on his shoulder-

“Cadet Kyle. We need to _talk_.”

Oh, shoot.

 

* * *

 

 

A tongue-lashing from Shadow Weaver was more than enough to shake anyone to their core. As much as Kyle tried to get accustomed to these consequences of failure, he was never ready. She surely made that impossible. He didn’t cry, daren’t cry, because that would make it all the worse for him. Instead he’d sat there, bolt upright, giving the appropriate “Yes Shadow Weaver,” and “No Shadow Weaver,” on cue. A good little drone taking his punishment on the chin.

Then, when he was out of sight, he rushed for the bathroom and threw up.

He pressed his forehead against the rim and just moaned, letting the floodgates open. He whined, he sobbed. Five minutes. Five minutes he’d allow himself. Then he had to put that mask back on. No weakness in the horde.

There was another touch to his back and he bolted. Was it Shadow Weaver again?

“I wasn’t-”

Those calm yellow eyes pierced him again. He swallowed. “S-sorry, I…” A cough. He grabbed a tissue to wipe his mouth. As he did so, something cool and leathery nudged into his cheek. He turned slightly to see what it was – and found Rogelio nosing him in the face. He blinked once, twice. He wasn’t sure what to do. Was he… worried? Or was this sympathy?

“U-um, I… were you waiting for me?” A blink in response. Kyle looked back in surprise, before a little smile came to his face. “Uh… thanks.” He paused, looking over to where he’d just been squatting and vomiting. “I uh, I just needed to uh, recover. You know. God- I don’t- I wish, I just wish I could do better, you know? I don’t _want_ to fail. I’m not like, like Catra, just treating it like some joke or something. I _want_ to be someone. But I can’t! It’s just not me. It feels like that. I dunno. I just- ah, hey!”

For the first time, Rogelio _had_ interrupted – by scooping him up and turning about, beginning a straight march down the corridor. Kyle locked up for a second, then cried out a protest. “H-hey! Hold up! Don’t- you can’t just- what if someone- _this is so embarrassing!_ Rogelio! Put me-”

He heard footsteps coming their way and froze, shutting up, turning to hide his face in his hands. This was _humiliating_ , what was Rogelio _thinking_ , they could _both_ be in trouble for fooling around like this-

“Hold up Cadet, whatcha got there?”

Rogelio stopped. Turned. Kyle’s breath caught in his throat. _What was he thinking?_

“Hm? Oh, hey, is that… hah, Cadet Kyle, is it? What’d he do, piss off Octavia or something?” Rogelio’s weight shifted, like he was shrugging a shoulder, then he made some sort of sigh-hissing noise, air huffing out of his nostrils.

“Heh. Figures she’d have had enough of his whiny little face. Serves the kid right, might learn something the more he gets knocked about. Alright, get him back to dorms before he comes to and has a cry about it.”

The footsteps carried on. Rogelio moved on. Kyle, now gripping on tightly to the front of the boy’s shirt, was stunned. Any other time he would have been harassed, jeered at, spat on, driven further into the dirt while he shuffled meekly through the rest of his day. Now Rogelio was carting him away from all of that, back to his dorm where he could gather up his strength, take some rest, get some respite from the bullying and beatings and foul treatment...

He pressed his face into his companion’s chest, letting out a slow breath. “T..thanks.”

Rogelio huffed again. He took that as a “Don’t mention it.”


End file.
